1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a canopy assembly, more particularly to a canopy assembly for a ceiling fan.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to FIG. 1, U.S. Pat. No. 5,988,580 discloses a conventional canopy assembly for use in a ceiling fan. The canopy assembly disclosed herein includes a bracket (not shown), a canopy 8 surrounding the bracket, a plurality of mounting screws 6 used for connecting threadedly an upper portion of the canopy 8 to the bracket, and an annular ring 7 made of a resilient material and covering the upper portion of the canopy 8. Each of the mounting screws 6 has a head 61 exposed from the canopy 8 and covered by the annular ring 7. The annular ring 7 has an inner surrounding surface formed with a plurality of J-shaped recesses 71. Each of the recesses 71 of the annular ring 7 is dimensioned to receive the head 61 of a respective one of the mounting screws 6, and has a vertical section that is formed with a top opening 711 and a horizontal section that is formed with a blind end 712. During assembly of the conventional canopy assembly, the annular ring 7 is placed at a position where the top opening 711 of each of the recesses 71 is in alignment with the head 61 of the respective one of the mounting screws 6. After the annular ring 7 is moved upwardly and the heads 61 of the mounting screws 6 enter respectively the top openings 711, the annular ring 7 is rotated such that the heads 61 are accommodated in the blind ends 712 of the recesses 71, thereby securing the annular ring 7 to the upper portion of the canopy 8.
Referring to FIG. 2, U.S. Pat. No. 7,261,520 discloses another conventional canopy assembly for use in a ceiling fan. In this disclosure, the connection structure of a canopy 8′ and an annular ring 7′ is different from the abovementioned structure. The canopy 8′ has a plurality of indentations 81′. The annular ring 7′ includes a sidewall 72′ and a plurality of fingers 73′. Each of the fingers 73′ has a lower end affixed to the sidewall 72′ of the annular ring 7′, and an upper end cooperating with the sidewall 72′ to define a gap therebetween and formed with a protrusion 731′ for engagement with a respective one of the indentations 81′. The fingers 73′ and the sidewall 72′ are formed as one piece, and each of the fingers 73′ is resiliently deformable relative to the sidewall 72′ so as to facilitate the installation of the annular ring 7′. However, during assembly, the fingers 73′ may break since the structure at the intersection between the fingers 73′ and the sidewall 72′ is relatively weak. Moreover, since vibrations are created, when the ceiling fan operates, if the size of the protrusions 731′ and that of the indentations 81′ do not match precisely, the fingers 73′ may vibrate with respect to the sidewall 72′ and generate undesirable noise.